Design & Technology

Design and Technology is a practical subject that offers students the opportunity to organise information, materials, processes, tools and equipment to design, make and appraise their work. The subject provides for self-expression through a design brief.

Students apply knowledge of materials, practical skills and safe working practices both as an individual and as a member of a group.

Four sequential units are available. Together they form a complete two-year course.

The Design and Technology workshop has a wide variety of industry-standard equipment and machinery. Students will be trained in the safe operation of each machine as appropriate for their skills and needs.

In the course of the two years, the following topics and processes are covered:

• Working on set, structured projects
• Working on individually designed projects and open ended briefs
• Research, material characteristics, design influences and product analysis
• Design communication strategies to help develop and present ideas
• Project planning
• Material manipulation and joining methods
• Processing timber, metal, plastics and other materials using machinery and hand tools
• Finishing processes for various resistant materials.

Students will be expected to communicate their ideas as they work through the design process. This will include providing evidence of research work, sketches, detailed drawings, cutting lists and job lists which together will form a folio of work to support their practical design work. An evaluation of each piece of work will be completed.

Students will be required to complete research work to enable them to have some understanding of the historical influences in design. They will also investigate areas of technological change in a chosen field of interest, with a focus on effects this may have had on everyday life.

Where possible, students will be taken to view and comment on exhibitions relevant to their study to enable them to experience a wide range of design work. 

The actual design briefs given to students will be wide and varied, with some as problem solving activities and others having limitations imposed by material, time, equipment and processes. The units in both Year 9 and Year 10 can be taken singularly for one semester or the other, but all four units will deliver a more comprehensive knowledge. 

Possible Year 9 Projects

Slot together stool 

Project Focus - Design for Disassembly

Project Skills - Ergonomics and Structural design

Lighting Project

Project Focus - Lighting design

Project Skills - Modeling, CAD and Laser Cutting

Bedside Table Project

Project Focus - Furniture making and manufacturing upskilling  

Project Skills - Cabinet joinery

Possible Year 10 Projects

Objet D' Art

Objet d’Art is a French term used to describe an object that is not a traditional piece of art like a painting or drawing but an object that may or may not have a function, and is aesthetically pleasing. The main idea for this project is to understand the debate over form versus function and how it affects design. For 9 weeks, students will do research, design and construct an object where the primary focus is aesthetics. 

The Dorney House Model Chair Project

The students go through an extended version of the Design Cycle researching chairs, the local environment and modern design to create a design for a chair to suit the Dorney House, an award-winning house in Hobart. They then make a 1:5 scale model of their design.

Object Design Jr.

Students work on a semester-long project based on a simplified version of the Year 12 Object Design course. They engage in research, design and make an object in response to a theme that in some way relates to a solution of a future problem.